🏀🏀🏀 OFFICIAL 2023-24 NBA Finals Thread Boston Celtics V. Dallas Mavericks 🏀🏀🏀

[BostonNut]

Discuss.

[stevebay]

Main headline is Kyrie back in Boston...should be entertaining.

[hermanotarjeta]

Bold.

Don’t jinx Dallas.

Watch Minnesota come back and win the series because of this thread.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Kyrie is mentally soft.

Can't wait for the Boston crowd to have him crying back to mommy BronBron.

[asujbl]

Dallas

Easy answer

Boston is the most overrated group of players on the planet and have been for years. Win something for once. No one cares about the regular season. Stop choking. The Niners of the NBA

Luka to the moon

Kyrie hates Boston so much

I’m all about the Mavericks championship

[Scottish Punk]

I think it will come down to Tatum and Kyrie. Which one plays better. I think Brown is the Celtics best big game player and will get his. Luka will get his no matter what since he will put up enough shots to do it. Role players will do well in spurts particularly at home.

Kyrie is the x-factor for the Mavs. If he is playing well, Luka can jog down the court and stand at the 3-point line and conserve energy. As far as Tatum, we all know he has a tendency to shrink and disappear in the big games. Goes without saying, that ne needs to be consistently good for the Celtics to win. Tatum can't be the KAT of this round and just shoot bricks and be a dud on offense.

If Jrue can slow down Kyrie and make his life difficult and inefficient, than the Celtics are going to win.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by asujbl

Dallas

Easy answer

Boston is the most overrated group of players on the planet and have been for years. Win something for once. No one cares about the regular season. Stop choking. The Niners of the NBA

Luka to the moon

Kyrie hates Boston so much

I’m all about the Mavericks championship

Probably going to win the CHIP this year lol

[asujbl]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

Probably going to win the CHIP this year lol

A - Calling it the “Chip” is stupid
B - Dallas is going to win it

So wrong all around

[cms11]

I want the Mavs to win, but this title is the Celtics to lose with the talent they have and HCA.

[cms11]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

I think it will come down to Tatum and Kyrie. Which one plays better. I think Brown is the Celtics best big game player and will get his. Luka will get his no matter what since he will put up enough shots to do it. Role players will do well in spurts particularly at home.

Kyrie is the x-factor for the Mavs. If he is playing well, Luka can jog down the court and stand at the 3-point line and conserve energy. As far as Tatum, we all know he has a tendency to shrink and disappear in the big games. Goes without saying, that ne needs to be consistently good for the Celtics to win. Tatum can't be the KAT of this round and just shoot bricks and be a dud on offense.

If Jrue can slow down Kyrie and make his life difficult and inefficient, than the Celtics are going to win.

It will be interesting if the Blazers being forced to trade Dame leads to the Celtics finally winning a title.

[the mesiah]

Dallas mavs in 6 luka and Gafford are Finals Co MVPs

[Braswell10]

I hope Dallas wins just so we don’t have to hear some corny Kobe quote from Tatum.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by Braswell10

I hope Dallas wins just so we don’t have to hear some corny Kobe quote from Tatum.

Why not ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE?!?!?

[Kingofkings1281]

Originally Posted by Braswell10

I hope Dallas wins just so we don’t have to hear some corny Kobe quote from Tatum.

That would be absolutely tragic! Hopefully they get swept!

[GOATcards]

Boston -225
Dallas +190

why

[sethc1020]

Mavs all the way! Boston has had the easiest road to get there, they haven't had to battle the entire playoffs and that's not because they are such a superior team than everyone else, the East is super soft. Everything comes through the West

[rms13]

I don't see how any Boston fan can be looking ahead to Mavs. Didn't we learn anything from 2004? Wolves could still win 4 straight.

But Kyrie vs Zingis double revenge narrative would be fun. Luka picking up multiple technicals will be fun when he can't control his frustrations about what the C's defense will do to him.

[Nomad]

Do we need so many smiley basketballs in the title? Rubs it in for fans of teams that aren't there. And let's call Ant and aks him if he thinks there's a series.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by sethc1020

Mavs all the way! Boston has had the easiest road to get there, they haven't had to battle the entire playoffs and that's not because they are such a superior team than everyone else, the East is super soft. Everything comes through the West

This same stupid opinion from everyone. The C's have beat everyone this year including the Mavs twice, Wolves, OKC. The only team that I think would have been a real matchup problem is Denver. Luka and Kyrie will be slowed down and nobody else on that roster will be able to do anything. And Mavs defense won't be able to stop anything from the C's.

[sethc1020]

Originally Posted by rms13

This same stupid opinion from everyone. The C's have beat everyone this year including the Mavs twice, Wolves, OKC. The only team that I think would have been a real matchup problem is Denver. Luka and Kyrie will be slowed down and nobody else on that roster will be able to do anything. And Mavs defense won't be able to stop anything from the C's.

Beating teams in the regular season means nothing, the playoffs is an entirely different beast. And everyone has the same stupid opinion because it is true and everyone know it. There's no competition in the east, especially with Giannis, Embid, & Butler hurt most of the season. Its been a cake walk for Boston. Plus its really hard to slow down a team that already plays slow like Dallas. I see another repeat outcome for Boston in the Finals, but could be totally wrong. I thought the Dallas Vs Minnesota match up would be a close series also.

[JeremyNick]

I see we are bringing the “gotta start the official thread 1st” energy to the Basketball forums.

Sipsipsip

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by asujbl

A - Calling it the “Chip” is stupid
B - Dallas is going to win it

So wrong all around

Hahaha!

So we agree?

Celtics baby!!

[Nomad]

Lots of levels here. Kyrie has a very personal grudge against the Celtics. Makes Nesmith look like a mild case. I want to say Irving has moved on and Nesmith certainly was a mediator in describing how the Boston players' enduring memory was that Ky had amazing handle, but I think Kidd will actually be trying to trigger and/or channel that rebenge energy.

[dunkindutchmen]

Originally Posted by rms13

This same stupid opinion from everyone. The C's have beat everyone this year including the Mavs twice, Wolves, OKC. The only team that I think would have been a real matchup problem is Denver. Luka and Kyrie will be slowed down and nobody else on that roster will be able to do anything. And Mavs defense won't be able to stop anything from the C's.

Luka and Kyrie will not be slowed down. Historically, neither one of them have had any problems with Holiday or White.

And while there are real concerns over who Luka guards, they'll figure out a way to hide him. The Mavs defense did a complete 180 with the Gafford/Washington trade, Lively's incredible development, and a few other tweaks. They've had one of the best defenses in basketball these last few months.

I don't know how anyone is confident giving a prediction when Lively and Porzingis are up in the air. Lively is a huge part of what the Mavs do on both ends. Porzingis may give Boston the edge but there isn't a good track record of teams reincorporating major pieces back into the lineup in similar spots.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by sethc1020

Beating teams in the regular season means nothing, the playoffs is an entirely different beast. And everyone has the same stupid opinion because it is true and everyone know it. There's no competition in the east, especially with Giannis, Embid, & Butler hurt most of the season. Its been a cake walk for Boston. Plus its really hard to slow down a team that already plays slow like Dallas. I see another repeat outcome for Boston in the Finals, but could be totally wrong. I thought the Dallas Vs Minnesota match up would be a close series also.

I don't know what to say anymore. 12-2 in the playoffs. They are a team built for the playoffs. They spent the entire season setting up for this. They started resting guys two months ago ago to stay healthy. Tatum and Brown have 7 years of post season experience together including going to the finals, beating Giannis, KD and Embiid in the post season. Took prime LeBron to 7 games in Tatum's rookie year. They have veterans like Jrue who won a title and Horford with 17 years of play off experience. I think they know how to handle post season basketball